


Nice to meet you, I like your smile

by carterhack



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, They meet and it's cute, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Nini Salazar-Roberts, Trans Ricky Bowen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21589342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carterhack/pseuds/carterhack
Summary: She did a small wave. Why’d she wave? She was such a loser, she wanted to crawl under her pillow. Until Ricky waved back at her, still smiling that… smile. Nini kind of accidentally blocked out everything but that smile until Regina spoke again.[Or: Nini and Ricky meet at a trans group for teens]
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 10
Kudos: 105





	Nice to meet you, I like your smile

Nini Salazar-Roberts was not anti-social, per se. She had friends. She was best friends with Kaitlyn, and it’s not like she didn’t like making new friends, she did. She loved making new friends, it was just hard sometimes. She was always worried about whether or not people would like her. Not to mention she was constantly scared people wouldn’t accept her because she was trans. It was kind of silly, she knew that. There were tons of people who’d be accepting and the people who weren’t going to be accepting weren’t worth her time anyway. That reassurance didn’t make it a whole lot easier to make friends, unfortunately. Good thing she had her moms who knew just what to do.

“Nini, sweetheart,” One of her moms came into the room, sitting down next to her with a smile. Nini set down her book, looking up. 

“What’s up?” She asked, lifting up her knees and leaning forward.

“Your mother and I were talking,” Uh oh. Nini stared at her mother as she spoke the words. “And we wondered what you think about joining a group at the center.” 

“With you guys?” She asked. She’d gone to the lgbtq+ center with her moms before. She’d attended parties there and volunteered sometimes, but she’d never gone alone before.

“No,” She shook her head. “We were talking to Regina and she told us about a group for transgender teens.” 

“Really?” Nini smiled. “They have that there?”

“Yeah,” Her mom nodded, smiling back. “We thought it’d be good for you. We never had anything like that growing up and now as adults, we know how amazing things like that can be.” 

“That would be…”Awesome, Nini thought. She’d be able to make friends who understood her. Not that Kaitlyn didn’t understand her, but this was different. “Great.” 

“Perfect,” Her mom grinned. “We’ll tell Regina you can attend Saturday’s meeting.” She stood up, brushing off her pants.

“Now go wash up, dinner’s ready,” She leaned forward and kissed her daughter’s head before exiting the room. Nini smiled. She was so excited for Saturday.

* * *

Perhaps Saturday was way too soon. Maybe she should wait until the following Saturday. She wasn’t exactly not looking forward to going. Just… nervous. What if everyone there passed way better than her? What if she made a fool of herself? What if she can’t even fit in with people like her? There were way too many thoughts in her head, and she was seriously considering asking her moms to turn around and take her back home.

“We’re here,” her mom said as the car slowed. Too late. 

“Oh,” Nini peeked her head over the seat, glancing at the people walking into the building. She chewed on her lip. “Great.” She muttered. She should’ve known they’d see right through her.

“Hey,” Her mom leaned forward, putting a hand on her shoulder. “No need to be nervous. They’re gonna love you.” 

“We sure do,” Her other mom said. Nini smiled.

“Thanks, guys,” She took a deep breath. “Well, see you in an hour.” Then she got out of the car and somehow managed to make her way into the building. 

She didn’t know what she was expecting, but this was a lot more relaxing than whatever she thought. There was a circle of large pillows, a couple of people rough to her age sat around them with the occasional small group or pair standing around the room chatting. 

“Nini,” Regina grinned, walking over to her, wrapping an arm around her. “Glad you could make it.” Regina was her moms’ friend. She was a bright, happy woman who usually worked at the center. 

“Me too,” Nini smiled, happy to have someone she knew there. “What do we uh… do here?” 

“Well, there’s a lot of new people so I thought an introduction day.” Before Nini could ask what that meant, Regina was rounding everyone up and telling them to take a seat at the circle. Nini scrambled to get a sit, looking up at the other people. Before she could look around the room, though, her eyes caught the person sitting across from her. They gave her a small, nervous smile, and Nini smiled back. They had one of the warmest smiles she had ever seen. 

“Welcome,” Regina spoke up. Nini turned away from the other person, looking at Regina. “I see a lot of new faces today. I’m glad you all came. I want everyone to know upfront that this is a safe space meant for you all to make friends, and maybe even learn some things. Shall we start with introductions?” After a couple of hums in agreement, she broke out into a grin.

“Fantastic,” She said. “We’ll start by going around and saying our name and pronouns. I’ll start. I’m Regina and I go by she and her pronouns.” She then motioned for the next person to go. Nini tried to pay attention to each person’s name and pronouns, but she couldn’t keep her eyes of the person across from her. Then it was their turn.

“Hello,” they chuckled. “I’m Ricky and I’m a boy uh… I mean, I er.. I go by he and him pronouns.” Then he smiled again.  _ Ricky _ . Nini smiled at him, and it lasted up until it got to her.

“Hi,” She cleared her throat, trying to look around at everyone. “I’m Nini… I go by she and her pronouns.” She did a small wave. Why’d she wave? She was such a loser, she wanted to crawl under her pillow. Until Ricky waved back at her, still smiling that… smile. Nini kind of accidentally blocked out everything but that smile until Regina spoke again.   
  


“Now how about we go around and share what we hope for in joining this group.” Nini listened to each person thoughtfully, glad to be on the same boat as a lot of people.

“Well, I hope to make friends outside of the skate park,” Ricky spoke up during his turn, causing a few laughs from around the room. Nini chuckled. When it landed on her, she took a minute to think.

“I think this will be… good for me.” She really didn’t have much to say after that, she wished she did. She just didn’t know what to say. She was relieved when other people nodded and smiled along to that. She felt comfortable more comfortable as she listened to the rest of the group speak. 

“It’s nice to meet you all,” She said. “Now for the rest of the meeting I want you to just get to know each other.” She stood up. 

“Introduce yourself to at least one other person.” She said, causing everyone to start standing up and moving. Nini shifted awkwardly, pushing herself up. She was met with dazzling brown eyes.

“Oh, hi,” Nini smiled. 

“Hi…” Ricky laughed nervously, stepping back and rubbing the back of his neck. “Have you uh… have you done this before?”

“Introduced myself?” Nini questioned with a hint of a smile. “Maybe a few times.” Ricky laughed.

“It’s my first time coming here,” Ricky continued. 

“Mine too,” Nini said back, playing with her sleeves.

“What do you think so far?” He asked, tilting his head and looking around the room before his eyes landed back on the girl in front of him.

“It’s nice to know people who… get me,” She murmured.

“Yeah,” He hummed. “Yeah…” He was giving her another one of his smiles, and Nini decided that it was now one of her favorite smiles to see.

“Yeah,” Nini felt herself blushing.

“I’m glad I came today,” Ricky looked her in the eyes, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his hoodie. Nini noticed a faint blush on his cheeks as well. She smiled softly at him. 

“Yeah, me too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Woo! Hope you liked it. It's kind of short and simple, but I hope you guys enjoyed it! If you did please leave a comment I love getting those. <3


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